


Home

by starryastronaut



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Family, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Finding Family, Finding home, Shiro Week, Shiro Week 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-19
Updated: 2018-02-19
Packaged: 2019-03-21 07:21:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13735950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starryastronaut/pseuds/starryastronaut
Summary: How piled up coincidences and fate led Shiro to find a home far away from what he had ever considered to be just that.---"He has been looking up at the sky ever since he can remember. Something about it had been mesmerising, pulling him in, making him want to reach out and - and what? All he knew for sure was that he wanted more.As his 5 year-old self, Takashi watched his first rocket launch from afar.Takashi forgot all of his surroundings and just stood watching the vehicle ascend to worlds he could only imagine with his young mind. With his mouth and eyes wide open, he wished to one day sit in a rocket just like that.That night he dreamt of comets and trails of stars leading to his front porch, of astronauts and his parents living in rocket ships."





	Home

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, this is my first contribution for Bee's (@aakaaashi on twitter) Shiro Week!  
> Day one: Home.
> 
> I tried to finish this quickly, so please have mercy lmao  
> Thanks to Sha (Sha_Ocean on ao3) for reading over this before I post it!
> 
> Enjoy!

 

i.

 

He has been looking up at the sky ever since he can remember. Something about it had been mesmerising, pulling him in, making him want to reach out and - _and what?_ All he knew for sure was that he wanted _more._

 

As his 5 year-old self, Takashi watched his first rocket launch from afar.

It had been a mild summer evening, wind blowing through the trees around him, grass swaying and tickling his legs. He had been roaming the field nearby his house, playing with his toys, running around in joy, forgetting time until the sun had already begun setting. He had looked up at the darkening sky that stars were dotting already, when he noticed a bright form emerging from the ground and gradually gaining height in the corner of his eye. When he shifted his gaze, his eyes widened in wonder and curiosity.

There was a rocket, one of which he had a toy back in his room, one of which he had seen pictures in the story books his mother would read to him, one of which he had seen on TV or on posters all over town and in his father’s study. A real rocket.

Takashi forgot all of his surroundings and just stood watching the vehicle ascend to worlds he could only imagine with his young mind. With his mouth and eyes wide open, he wished to one day sit in a rocket just like that.

That night he dreamt of comets and trails of stars leading to his front porch, of astronauts and his parents living in rocket ships.

 

 

ii.

 

Takashi had not merely been starry-eyed. His dream remained and he worked for it to come true, studying where he could, putting all his effort into it. There were times when it had felt like too much and he wanted nothing more than to just give up, but there had been even more times when he whooped at finally understanding something difficult and when he got the A in physics that he strived for for years and so many small victories. Remembering why he did this - wanting _something,_ wanting _more_ \- helped him to stay in check, too. He wasn’t going to sit around his whole life, wondering _‘what if’_ , wondering _‘what is it like out there’_ , without even so much as trying to answer these plaguing thoughts himself.

 

Sometimes, he would run to the hill nearby at night, his telescope in a bag strapped over his shoulder. For a better understanding of his studies, of course, not just to watch the night sky, he made sure to mention that every time someone asked about it or caught him sneaking down the street.

One night, he wasn’t alone. A shorter figure, dark against the glowing sky, stood at the top, staring out into the vastness of space. “Hey there,” Takashi had said, hoping not to startle the person before him. He slowly set up his telescope as usual. The figure turned his way, watching him with a frown on their face. He could now see that it was someone a bit younger than him, and a lot grumpier. When he only got a huff as reply, Takashi didn’t push further for a while. After setting everything up and having looked through for a while, he spoke up again.

“So...I’ve never seen you around, before,” he attempted. No reply.

“I’m Takashi.” The kid stayed silent.

“What pulled you here, in the middle of the night?” Again, nothing.

“Not much of a talker, huh?” Takashi chuckled. The person just shifted on their legs a bit, sneaking glances at him.

“It’s fine, you don’t have to say anything, I’ll shut up now,” he added in a low voice, careful to not sound accusing - he really wasn’t.

After a while, the other kid took a breath and said in a voice barely above a whisper, “I’m Keith.”

Takashi smiled to himself as he adjusted the telescope, then looked at the boy next to him. “Nice to meet you, Keith.” Keith only huffed.

This was the only interaction they had that night, but Keith would be there on many other nights, too, and so he slowly warmed up to Takashi. They both became friends over time and hung out on other occasions than on the hill in the middle of the night - though, that still was kind of their thing now.

 

Months went by, a year, and more, and they both grew as close as brothers would. Keith came over to the Shirogane household more times than he was at his own house, probably. Takashi told Keith what he was doing and what he wanted to achieve. Keith was fascinated. He admitted that he had always been interested in space, but his families never had money for books or equipment and the likes. Takashi took it upon himself to teach him what he knew.

Over time, many things happened to them. Keith got into fights, Takashi tried to help keep Keith’s temper in check, Keith had to change families one time, somehow the nickname “Shiro” got into Keith’s everyday language, Takashi got a new and bigger telescope which they both tried out on the hill, Keith got himself a bicycle, dreaming about owning a real hover bike one day; the list went on and on.

 

After Takashi applied for the Galaxy Garrison, Keith had distanced himself. Takashi knew why. The Garrison was far away and he wouldn’t be able to see Keith as often anymore, and Keith had terrible abandonment issues. Takashi sought him out and promised to be in touch and proposed that Keith should apply for the Garrison, too. Ever since Takashi started teaching Keith, he had made enough progress to possibly even get a scholarship. Keith calmed down a bit after their conversation but he didn’t give him an answer about applying.

 

A few weeks later, Takashi got the acceptance letter, so after years of discipline and dreaming, he finally made it to the Galaxy Garrison.

 

The day he left from home, his mother had cried, not only of sadness of seeing her son off for so long for the first time, but also because she was so full of pride. Takashi had hugged his mother tightly, promising her to call regularly and that the first holidays weren’t that far from then, he’d be back before she knew it.

His father had gripped his shoulders, looking at him with the widest grin Takashi had ever seen on him. The poster of the rocket from his study had been packed into Takashi’s suitcase just moments prior.

“I’m going to make you proud, I promise,” Takashi had said after hugging his father with the same force he did his mother.

Takashi will never forget how his father shook his head with a gentle smile and told him, “No, son. You’re going to make yourself proud.”

Keith wasn’t there that day.

 

Miles away from home, around people he had never met before, in classes he had never had before, Takashi knew he was doing the right thing. And so he continued as he had before: putting all his effort into everything he did.

 

 

  
iii

 

Three years had gone by in a whim. Shiro - that was what people would call him here now. At first, they used only his last name, as is common; then, when he became somewhat of a ‘legend’ around here - even if he would deny it himself - they used his full name, making sure to emphasize that they meant _the_ Takashi Shirogane; and at last, they stuck to “Shiro”, a quick, but still unique name to call him by - thank Keith for establishing that one as soon as he arrived here.

Shiro enjoyed being at the Garrison. Piloting simulators, astronomy classes, engineering classes, and more; he loved every second of it. He rose in the ranks quickly.

Over time, Shiro had stayed in close contact with his family and visited regularly. When he had first visited, Keith was glad to see him again and even apologised for not seeing him off. His mother and father had drowned him in bone-crushing hugs and asked how it was going. He had gladly told them that he liked it there, and that he even made friends already, one of them being Matthew Holt, whom he would call his best friend there.

In his third year, Shiro was actually surprised to see Keith enter the hall in one of the junior suits. Keith hadn’t told him about his plans to actually come here, and he even had the audacity to smirk smugly at Shiro when he caught him gaping at him. Of course it made Shiro happy that Keith decided to come here, that he got admitted and _made_ it here.

“Are you on a scholarship?”

“Yup.”

“See? I told you so.”

“Shut up.” But a smile tugged at Keith’s lips. Shiro ruffled his hair and told him, “Good luck,” before being off to his own classes.

 

Now, Shiro was listed for a mission with Matt and Samuel Holt. Samuel, Matt’s father, was a senior science officer whom he had worked with a few times, so they were fairly acquainted; no less because of Matt, too. Towards the middle of the year, they were scheduled to embark.

When he told his family back home, they were thrilled for him. Worried, yes, but they were overall happy to see him accomplishing his dreams. When he told Keith, the latter would react only half as ecstatic. Of course he was happy for Shiro, but he also basically only just got back to seeing him this regularly and now Shiro was to leave again.

“It’s going to be fine, Keith. It isn’t even that long of a mission,” Shiro had said, “ _I’m_ going to be fine up there and _you’re_ going to be fine down here. You’ll make friends and when I come back, you’ll be all like ‘Look, I don’t need you to watch out for me anymore’ with a smile on your face.”

Keith chuckled bitterly at that. “I don’t think so.”

Shiro smiled. “Maybe not literally. Come on, it’s not gonna be that bad. We’re gonna make it as quick as possible, I promise. The Holts also have a family at home, you know.”

Keith had smiled at that and his shoulders relaxed a bit. “You better keep to that promise,” he had said, playfully punching Shiro in the shoulder. It was a step forward, at least.

 

The day of the Kerberos mission launch came soon. Keith had said his goodbyes already, having to attend classes during the launch. Shiro was nervous and excited to be flying out where no human has been before. _He_ of all people was a part of that, it was truly astounding to him.

With Matt, Samuel and himself all set, they were called to the bridge. Some last check-ups were made, on both the rocket ship and the team. Once everything was prepared, they took their seats in the ship, Shiro up front as the pilot.

Some part of him still couldn’t quite grasp that this was happening, that he was going on a mission to somewhere no human has ever been before, with two of the most intelligent people around here. Something inside of him was burning up now more than ever, now that he was so close to going to outer space. His 5 year-old self would have marvelled at this with a sparkle in his eyes.

The launch itself went smoothly; now they had to travel for a few months to actually get to Kerberos. He was so close.

 

 

  
iii.

 

Months later, they arrived at Kerberos. The whole trip has been so unreal to Shiro. Flying past the planets he has only ever seen from afar - first Mars, then Jupiter, then Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and finally Pluto. All three of the team were ecstatic when the landing went smoothly and they could step out onto the icy surface for the first time.

“We really made it!”

“We’re actually here!”

“We’re at the edge of the solar system!”

  
They allowed themselves a bit of a break to let it sink in and to celebrate, but soon enough they went to work, for what they originally arrived. The first few days went smoothly. They set up a small base, checked all the equipment and got ready to extract some of the ice to examine it and potentially bring samples back to earth, as well as to explore the environment.

They were in the middle of extracting a piece of ice when everything around them started rumbling and a big shadow threw itself over them. When they spotted the spaceship, it was already too late. Shiro had reacted rather fast but not fast enough. They ran but to no avail, something from the ship was pulling them in without possibility to struggle. They could contact no one beforehand.

Aboard the alien spaceship, they were brought to some sort of commander first, who dismissed them. Shiro tried to convince him of their peacefulness but to no avail; he just got knocked out again. When Shiro woke up again and looked around, he couldn’t believe his eyes. It was massive, and he could see hundreds, maybe even thousands of prisoner cells lining up. If these people held so many captive, how would they ever get out of this again?

After a while, they sent Samuel and weaker prisoners away to a work camp, unfit for the gladiator arena. Shiro couldn’t believe his ears when they first mentioned gladiator fights. Him and his cell mates were brought along to fight a gladiator called Myzax. Matt would have been the first one to fight. He was so scared. Shiro couldn’t possibly make Matt go. He didn’t like entertaining the idea of anyone possibly dying in the cage, especially not Matt up front, he had to intervene. So he pretended to be full of blood-lust and wanted to go to the arena, injuring Matt in the process which would later make him unfit for the gladiator arena. Matt looked at him in shock - he knew exactly what he was doing.

The rest of his “stay” in Galran captivity was a blur. He remembered finding out more about their species, about how they destroyed everything in their path without mercy. He remembered being tortured and tested on, losing his arm, getting it replaced with Galra-tech. All of it has just been a seemingly never-ending nightmare.

He had thought a lot about home in these times. About his family. About his mother smiling with sunshine in her eyes. About his father talking calmly and reassuringly. About Keith hopefully having made friends, now that his brother wouldn’t be there to help him. About all of them not worrying too much about what happened at Kerberos and getting over it quickly. He also thought about the both Holts and how they were hopefully still alive and might find a way out of the work camps. Thinking about anything but his captivity was what kept him sane most of the time.

 

One day, while he was being tested on, someone - one of the doctors, Ulaz was his name, he said - had told him about the Blue Lion being located on earth, and how he would cover up Shiro’s escape. In that moment, he couldn’t quite follow, but somehow he had made it to an escape pod, landing on earth on that fateful day.

The people from the Garrison, of course, immediately strapped him down. He tried to explain to them in what danger they were, but no one was listening, they rather sedated him. Typical. And he didn’t have the means to defend himself, still trying to make them listen until the last second.

 

He had never felt so relieved and terrified at the same time when he woke up in Keith’s shack. Relieved because _was this real? Was it over? Was he free now?_ And terrified because it was only him. No Samuel. No Matt. No one else.

They had acted quickly when Shiro told them about Voltron, actually listening unlike the Garrison people. They found the cave with the Blue Lion, unexpectedly reacting to Lance, and flew away from earth, yet again unexpectedly.

If someone had told him years ago that he would have been captured by evil aliens, came back to earth and flew away with a bunch of teenagers in a seemingly half-sentient alien spaceship to their destiny of becoming the defenders of the universe, he would have laughed and asked what sci-fi series they had watched lately.

Right then when they were slipping through a wormhole, not knowing what to expect but being collectively determined, he knew once again that he was doing the right thing.

 

 

 

iv.

 

Shiro had never dreamt of being a defender of the universe. He had never dreamt of being the leader of a team like this, to meet two aliens whom he’d befriend closely and fight along with, let alone to even see a different part of the universe than earth’s solar system.

When they arrived and were almost immediately thrown into battle again, he didn’t know if they could actually do this; if _he_ could actually do this. All had felt so overwhelming and big, but ultimately it had felt _right_. For some reason, he knew that this was what pulled him out all these years ago. He had found it when the Black Lion responded to him and fought along with him.

 

Now he was sitting in the lounge with the others. A grand fight was over and they could afford to rest for a while. These days, instead of immediately retreating to their own rooms and hitting the pillow, they met up and hung out in the lounge.

It was nice to be in each other’s presence, especially after battles, when everyone knew full well at what risk they were at all times, and that if anything had happened, at least one of them might not be sitting here with them anymore. It seemed like they all sat a little closer then.

Shiro smiled warmly when Lance cracked a joke again and even Keith joined in the laughter, and when Pidge talked about how close she was to making a new modification for the kitchen goo machine, and when Hunk chimed in also mentioning the new herbs they got from the last planet they were on, and when Allura joined them and told them about Altean food customs, and when Coran chipped in about the Altean movies the team would _definitely_ enjoy.

Turns out that they actually did enjoy the movies and had watched two in a row by now. They all huddled under a few blankets, Lance and Hunk already dozing off, everyone close to following after them with their eyes drooping and barely paying attention to the other film that was playing.

At this moment, Shiro was content. Warmth spread through him and all around him, and he felt truly calm and content for the first time in years.

Sure, they were all fighting in an intergalactic war now, and it was yet a long way to go before all of this would be over, but for now he had his team; they had each other. This was his makeshift family now. They had made themselves a home among the stars, and for the first time since before all of this started, he truly felt like it.

 

He felt at _home_.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> I'm open to every and all criticism and proposals for improvement.
> 
> You can find me on twitter at @asterrhoid if you're interested.


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